The Los Angeles Chargers had a disastrous start to their 2026 season, and franchise quarterback Justin Herbert no longer deserves his place among the NFL's best quarterbacks.
That's the verdict of talkSPORT's Brian T. Smith, who couldn't believe what he saw in Week 1 at SoFi Stadium, where the Chargers were stunned 26-14 by the visiting Arizona Cardinals.
Los Angeles managed just two scores and 268 yards against a defense that finished 28th in Expected Points Added (EPA) per play last season.
Herbert was responsible for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception through the air, and was outplayed by his opposite number, the unfancied Jacoby Brissett.
But Smith, talkSPORT's Senior US Writer, notes that this isn't a new trend for the sixth overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, who has under-performed across both his college and league careers to date.
Justin Herbert 'not a top 10 quarterback' in the NFL
"Even in college, it didn't go like it should have gone with Oregon," Smith, who has ranked the best QBs in the NFL for 2026, said on The S* Word by talkSPORT.
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"He's got the arm, but does he have the moxy, does he have 'it'? I feel like Caleb Williams has it more, Trevor Lawrence has it more.
"Obviously, the top five, seven quarterbacks have it more. For me, he's the No. 10 quarterback in the NFL, and he's on the team that finishes 15th in the NFL.
"That is his career thus far, and they have the wrong coach."
Smith was then asked by co-host Will Gavin if he would take all of Drake Maye, Dak Prescott and reigning MVP Matthew Stafford should be ranked ahead of him, and concluded: "Yes, Justin Herbert is not a top 10 quarterback."
Justin Herbert has long way to go to become NFL's 'greatest ever'
Once again, Herbert failed to live up to the intense hype in Week 1.
On the eve of the 2026 season, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh made a rather stunning suggestion on Michael Irvin's White House podcast.
"Allow me to call my shot, like Babe Ruth pointing his bat over to centerfield: Justin Herbert, when itâÂÂs all said and done, when his career comes to an end, I predict he will be known as the greatest, best ever to play the position of quarterback," he said.
"When itâÂÂs all said and done, and his career is finished, weâÂÂre going to look back and say, 'Yep, that's the best that ever did it.'"
Herbert, though, finds himself slipping at the start of his seventh season.
At 28-years-old, he's going to have to start winning Super Bowl and MVP awards sharpish, if he's to hit the lofty heights that Harbaugh predicts.
But as it stands, he's yet to win a playoff game, and has never been a first-team All-Pro or league MVP.
He hasn't led the league in any recognized statistical category since a record-breaking rookie season, in which he threw for 31 passing touchdowns to set the hype train in motion.
Sunday's effort against the Cardinals was a worrying sign, and Herbert will need to step up in the coming weeks if he's to re-establish himself as one of the NFL's premiere QBs, and in turn, climb Coach Harbaugh's G.O.A.T rankings.
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On Tuesdays, Will Gavin and US senior reporter Brian T. Smith will debate the biggest talking points from the NFL weekend, while on Thursdays, Efe Obada joins the crew to talk with players past and present and break down what to look for across the league.